During the late 1691 several young girls began to suffer fits and nightmares, attributed by their elders to witchcraft (Foner 106). Tituba who was a slave from Barbados that lived with two of the girls that were having fits as a servant. The girls invited several friends to share this delicious, forbidden diversion. Tituba’s audience listened intently as she talked of telling the future.Villagers sat spellbound as Tituba spoke of black dogs, red cats, yellow birds, and a white-haired man who bade her sign the devil’s book. Abigail Williams and Betty Parris were the first two girls in Salem Village to exhibit behaviors in mid-January of 1692 which were soon identified as being caused by witchcraft. Abigail and Betty accused Tituba of causing …show more content…
The pre-existing conditions included Puritans beliefs in witchcraft and their association of women particularly women with witchcraft. The outbreak at Salem would not have occurred without those beliefs (TAHPDX) I agree with the historians completely if there weren't any past accusations of witches those women and men would not have been killed. I also agree about the sort of complex and disturbing religious, cultural, psychological, social, economic, and political forces that shaped Salem Village in 1692 continue to affect us, often in ways that we are unaware of. The varied interpretations of the Salem witch trials suggest that well-intentioned people can be guilty of very harmful acts, particularly when trying to explain or come to terms with suffering that seems undeserved and inexplicable. Our reactions to such misfortunes are commonly motivated by impulses that are understood dimly or not at all, and those impulses commonly lead us, in the name of God, country, or community, to commit acts that seem right and fit at the time, cruel and illogical only in retrospect(TAHPDX). The Salem witch trials remains significant by the way society still reacts to crisis as
On February 29, 1692, issued warrants were released for Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba for witchcraft. Good, a beggar, and Osborne, a poor elderly woman, both claimed they were innocent and Tituba, a Caribbean slave from Elizabeth Parris’ family, confessed to being a witch. Tituba not only confessed to doing witchcraft but that there was a whole coven of witches in Salem, making her not the only one. Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams were experiencing tremors, spasms, fits and crying while throwing things. All of this made everyone suspicious about witchcraft.
Not many people believe in witchcraft. Once you live in Salem, where people are accusing others of being witches, you’ll start to believe. So, why did people go crazy in Salem 1692? It was caused by poor young girls who acted possessed because they were jealous of the rich. Young girls that did not want to be told what to do, afflicted girls acting as if they were possessed, and poor people that were jealous of the rich cause the death of 24 people in Salem 1692.
In January 1692, 9-year-old Elizabeth Parris and 11-year-old Abigail Williams began having fits, including violent contortions and uncontrollable outbursts of screaming. After a local doctor, William Griggs, diagnosed bewitchment, other young girls in the community began to exhibit similar symptoms, including Ann Putnam Jr., Mercy Lewis, Elizabeth Hubbard, Mary Walcott and Mary Warren. In late February, arrest warrants were issued for the Parris’ Caribbean slave, Tituba, along with two other women–the homeless beggar Sarah Good and the poor, elderly Sarah Osborn–whom the girls accused of bewitching them. Confession and Innocence
In the spring of 1692 people all around salem were being hung for the belief of them practicing witchcraft. With a town of only around 500 people living there having 200 or more people being accused of being a witch was a very big deal. “People had begun acting weird and doing very strange things such as dancing and acting as if they were possessed by the devil himself”, no one knew how to explain these weird behaviors. Little girls accusing grown men and women of being witches and practicing the devil’s work, harming innocents in the community. Believing that they watched a group of women perform a satanic ritual.
Three Puritan girls who lived in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 began to act strange; they would cry out in pain, start screaming, and stop speaking for a long time. Doctors could not find out what was wrong with them and jumped to the conclusion that the cause was supernatural. The Puritan girls accused three other women of witchcraft, but only one of them confessed. The only one to come forward and admit to witchcraft was a slave named Tituba. Tituba stated that the Devil came to her and made her write in his book.
In the face of death, people will do anything to get out of it. In The Crucible, the author, Arther Miller, demonstrates the story of the Salem witch trials in the 1890’s through a play. Of which the readers find that the trials originated from those who sought revenge upon others. As the people in Salem had fulfilled their hateful desires with an organized cry of witchcraft in court. Similarly, to when people accused others of communism, by naming names of those they didn’t like in the 1950’s.
Tituba lived as a slave in Samuel Parris’ household. Her customs and culture were foreign and unknown to the Puritans; as an outsider Tituba served as a prime suspect for a witch. Tituba’s accusers, however, were refugees of the Indian War. One can clearly distinguish a connection between the Indian War and the witch trials. Tituba brilliantly confessed to witchcraft, and her accusers slowly recanted their allegations.
The young girls seeked out to a Native American slave by the name of Tituba in order to learn their fortunes but ended up being “bewitched” causing them to exhibit strange behaviors (What Caused the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692?). Resulting in the first major rumors of witches in Salem, Massachusetts. Betty’s father, Reverend Samuel Parris, claimed the girls began “... creeping under Chairs and Stools… uttering foolish and ridiculous speeches...” and later learned of the trip the girls ventured
Salem was known for its dark events and history, the Salem Witch Trials was a great hysteria that happened during the spring of 1692 in Salem Massachusetts . This all happened because a group of young girls were said to be possessed by the devil in Salem Village. After this happened, several other women were accused of witchcraft. The first witch to be convicted was Bridget Bishop who, after many times, defended herself saying she had nothing to do with any of the events. But was hung on June 10th, 1692.
Salem Witch Trials How would you like to be accused of something you did not do? During the Salem witch trials Elizabeth Proctor, the wife of John Proctor, was accused of witchcraft. Witchery was a huge deal in Salem, Massachusetts.
The terror of the infamous 1692 witch hunts in Salem Massachusetts ravenously assaulted the peaceful existence of innocent men and women accused of consorting with the devil. A portion of the mayhem was contributed to fear which readily bred among puritan settlements struggling to survive America’s arduous environment. In a Salem witch trial documentary presented by the History Channel, Thaddeus Russell explains “They were afraid of death by starvation, death by exposure, they were afraid of death by savages” (History Channel, Russell). Additionally, the puritan’s strict religious beliefs added excessive distress among settlers where austere restrictions, mostly shaped by unsound doctrine, maintained the belief that almost every incident was
The Salem Witch Trial examines the accusations of witch craft during the late 1600’s in Salem Massachusetts. The Salem Witch Trials began when a group of girls accused their first three victims of malicious practice of witchcraft. The suggested practice first occurred in the home of the Reverend, Samuel Parris. He had a Caribbean slave, Tituba, who was said to have bewitched the girls. The girls and Tituba were said to have practiced a black magic dance in the middle of the woods.
The Salem Witch Trials; Madness or Logic In Stacey Schiff’s, List of 5 Possible Causes of the Salem Witch Trials and Shah Faiza’s, THE WITCHES OF SALEM; Diabolical doings in a Puritan village, discuss in their articles what has been debated by so many historians for years, the causes of the Salem Witch trials. Schiff and the Faiza, purpose is to argue the possible religious, scientific, communal, and sociological reasons on why the trials occurred. All while making word by word in the writer’s testimony as if they were there through emotion and just stating simply the facts and theories. They adopt the hectic tone in order to convey to the readers the significance, tragedy, logic, loss, and possible madness behind these life changing events,
The Salem witch trial hysteria of 1692 may have been instigated by religious, social, geographic and even biological factors. During these trials, 134 people were condemned as witches and 19 were hanged. These statistics also include 5 more deaths that occurred prior to their execution date. It is interesting to look into the causes of this stain on American History, when as shown in document B, eight citizens were hanged in only one day.
The Salem Witch Trials were one of the most dreadful times in the history of Massachusetts; many people got put to death for absurd reasons. The trials began because a few teenage girls essentially bored with their puritan lives; they wanted to do something different. Therefore; they forced many people to believe that there was an evil power among them, encased in friends, neighbors, and even family members. This preposterous theory that the girls brought to the small, quaint, puritan town of Salem, turned out to be extremely devastating to the town and the people who inhabited it.